Allotments 4 All
Produce => Under Glass => Topic started by: Elfeda on January 14, 2016, 10:58:26
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I search on the net and found wikes found to be cheaper at £5.36 per SQM . I might need some around 10 SQ M for one plastic wooden frame for tomatos. is there another retails who can give cheaper?
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My experience with corrugated PVC has been very very disappointing - it can lose its elasticity after 2 years in UV and when that happens the only thing that will stop it shattering is the rigidity of the framework holding it. This kind of 'battleship' engineering costs more money than it is worth, and a similarly rigid triangle-braced structure is more trouble than it's worth.
If you are re-roofing a structure that was designed to carry the weight of a tile or slate roof then maybe it will last 5 years, but otherwise forget it.
If you are building (or have built) a framework then it is more cost effective to use 10mm twinwall polycarbonate that will stay strong and durable for decades - even though it costs 2-2.5x as much up front - and the same goes for any frame you can buy at a reasonable price.
4mm horticultural PC is cheaper but much more flexible - big panels will need to be braced across to stop them popping out.
Cheers.
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I'm with vinlander on this corrugated sheets don't last long and when they break they really make a mess twin wall in my opinion is the way forward hope this helps
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I agree with the others, in fact a couple of years ago when I needed to repair the roof of my forty+ year old greenhouse I considered polycarbonate but because of the expense and possible uv damage I decided against it so I repaired it with uv treated plastic that a fellow plot holder had spare from when he built his tunnel.
If you look at the month of March in this slide show you will see how I did it.
I am hopeful that I will get 10+ years out of it. I base this on the fact that our community tunnel skin lasted 13 years so fingers crossed.
http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Allotments/Slide%20Show/A%20year%20on%20the%20Allotments.wmv (http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Allotments/Slide%20Show/A%20year%20on%20the%20Allotments.wmv)